Donald Trump Seen As Racist By Most Young Americans, Poll Finds

NEW YORK — Donald Trump is wildly unpopular among young adults, in particular young people of colour, and nearly two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 believe the presumptive Republican nominee is racist.

That's the finding of a new GenForward poll that also found just 19 per cent of young people have a favourable opinion of Trump compared to the three-quarters of young adults who hold a dim view of the New York billionaire.

Donald Trump poses with a ring given to him by a group of veterans during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa in January 2016. (Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)

Trump's likely general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, is also unpopular with young people, but not nearly to the same extent as the real estate mogul and realty TV star. A mere 6 per cent of young African Americans, 10 per cent of young Hispanics, 12 per cent of young Asian Americans and 27 per cent of young whites see Trump in a favourable light, ratings that suggest the celebrity businessman faces a staggering task this summer to win their backing in his bid for the White House.

"I think if you want to be a moral young person, you can't support Trump," said Miguel Garcia, 20, of Norwalk, California.

The grandson of Mexican immigrants and a college student who also works at a tire shop, Garcia is a registered Democrat who has not chosen a candidate to support this fall — but is resolute in his disdain for Trump.

"I think if you want to be a moral young person, you can't support Trump."

GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research . The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of colour, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of the country's most diverse generation.

The GenForward survey is a poll of adults between the age of 18 and 30, not necessarily registered or likely voters. Those surveyed may not end up voting, or casting a ballot for either major party candidate for president.

The poll found that only 39 per cent of young people have a favourable opinion of Clinton to 54 per cent who have an unfavourable view of the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Clinton the 'lesser of two evils'

Desiree Batista, a former supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, said she was "picking the lesser of two evils" in backing Clinton, a decision she reached in part because she believes Trump "was unqualified" to be president.

"I just don't think he's fit to be a presidential candidate," said Batista, a 21-year-old college student from Colonia, New Jersey. "I understand people like him as a businessman, even though I don't feel the same way."

The depth of animosity toward Trump among young Americans may be driven by the two-thirds of those who believe he is racist. That includes nearly 6 in 10 whites, and more than three-quarters of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians.

Trump launched his campaign last summer by accusing some immigrants from Mexico of being rapists and bringing drugs into the country. He later vowed to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the U.S., a position from which he has recently backed away.
Some respect his business skills

"Clearly, from what Trump has said he can be categorized as racist," said Barrett Coleman, a 28-year-old graduate student from Richmond, Virginia, who is supporting Clinton. "His comments about Mexicans, in particular, are just awful."

A Trump's spokeswoman did not return messages seeking comment about the GenForward poll, which found he does have some supporters among young people. Nour El Hanly, a 20-year-old student from Chicago, is a Muslim of Moroccan descent who said he found Clinton "corrupt" and will "continue failing Obama policies."

"I do not favour all of (Trump's) rhetoric, but he's a smart businessman who will help the nation's economy," said El Hanly, a Republican. He said he favoured Trump's plan to strengthen security along the U.S. border with Mexico, but doesn't think Trump will follow through on any sort of plan to bar Muslims from the country.

"Most of my friends don't agree, but I think he is the best choice," he said.

'He's not focused on equality'

Still, the poll found little common ground between young Americans and Trump. About 7 in 10 oppose Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from other countries from entering the United States. Seven in 10 oppose his plan to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. Six in 10 say immigrants in the country illegally should be allowed to stay, including large majorities of young Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans and about half of young whites.

Nathan Mclendon, a 22-year-old African-American independent, said he doesn't believe Trump can relate to the concerns of young voters or people of colour.

"He doesn't understand what we're going through. He's not focused on equality," said Mclendon, of Tampa, Florida. "I don't find him trustworthy. And I'm not sure he cares."

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7 Things Every Donald Trump Supporter Should Know

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Launching his Presidential bid last June, Donald Trump held up his financial statement to prove he had assets worth a total of $9 billion.
In a tasteless boast, Trump went on to reveal he refused a bank's loan of $4bn. He said: “I don’t need it. I don’t want it. And I’ve been there.”
While millions of Americans continue to suffer the effects of sluggish economic growth, Trump is blissfully unaffected. Well, that's how he makes it sound.

Trump says he's never had to withdraw cash from a cashpoint.
During an appearance on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien', Trump said that he'd never seen the need to use ATMs, all the while hinting at his extraordinary wealth.

Like many of his voters, money is always on Trump's mind.
But unlike those struggling to make ends meet, Trump is more concerned with the perception of his wealth, which he says is "more than $9 bn".
When an author suggested Trump had a net worth of less than $300m, the property tycoon sued him for libel.
Yet during testimony, Trump admitted his own estimations depend on his "feelings".
It was reported Trump said: "Yes, even my own feelings (guide estimates of my wealth), as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day."
Trump lost the libel case.

Despite pretending to offer something different from the tired-old ways of Washington, Trump has admitted that he's more than willing to use dubious non-facts and statistics in an effort to further his White House ambitions.
In a remarkable exchange with FOX News host Bill O'Reilly, the famously impertinent presenter took exception to flawed statistics banded about by Trump.
O’Reilly: This bothered me, I gotta tell ya. You tweeted out that whites killed by blacks — these are statistics you picked out from somewhere — at a rate of 81 percent. And that’s totally wrong. Whites killed by blacks is 15 percent, yet you tweeted it was 81 percent. Now …
Trump: Bill, I didn’t tweet, I retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert, and it was also a radio show.
O’Reilly: Yeah, but you don’t wanna be. … Why do you want to be in that zone?
Trump: Hey, Bill, Bill, am I gonna check every statistic? I get millions and millions of people, @RealDonaldTrump, by the way.
O’Reilly: You gotta, you’re a presidential contender, you gotta check ’em.

Trump once told a reporter: "I'm running for office in a country that's essentially bankrupt, and it needs a successful businessman."
Yet it's not always been plain sailing for all of Trump's businesses.
In the 1980s, Trump entered into the highly competitive casino market in Atlantic City, taking out huge loans on his investments and risking everything when the deals went into bankruptcy.
More recently, Trump has seen his name attached to failing properties, including hotels and casinos. Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City both closed in 2014, while Trump Soho in Manhattan ran into foreclosure.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Trump said of the deals: “I didn’t want to have any personal liability, so I used junk bonds. I accept the blame for that, but I would do it again,” he said. But Trump vehemently denied that the deal represented a personal failing or affected his personal wealth.
He continued: “This was not personal. This was a corporate deal. If you write this one, I’m suing you.”

He's so obsessed with his image that when a "cybersquatter" took control of hundreds of online domain names, including those using the name "Trump", Donald went on the defensive.
J. Taikwok Yung, a self-described "domainer" from Brooklyn, NY, was hauled before judges after Trump noticed he'd bought up a huge amount of his brand online.
Trump sought the maximum damages allowed - $100,000 for each of the four Trump-related domain names bought by Yung.
And he had legal grounds: Trump is a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Organisation and is adorned on many a high-stakes casino, and several hotels.

Evidence of more concerning delusion came last month, when Trump played the theme to Harrison Ford's 'Air Force One' to signal his private jet's arrival in Iowa.
Trump even ordered his private Boeing 757 jet to "buzz" the control tower of a local airport, swooping low and thrilling supporters below.
Trump even ensured the score to the 1997 film was playing as the jet landed and taxied into position.
If that weren't enough, Trump shamelessly stood in perfect place to ensure the jet's huge "TRUMP" logo was captured by TV cameras.